Thomas Family Reunion

Every two years my dad's family gets together for a magnificent family reunion.  It's been a few years since I've been able to make it to one, but this year they came to us!  We stayed in a fancy beach-side hotel in Oceanside and quite enjoyed each other.

In our hotel, Mac spent most of the time yelling at cars and, most excitiedly, the train that went by every fifteen minutes or so.

 The beach was cold almost every day, but that won't stop my little sandman.  He had a great time.

 Most of our free time was spent at the pool.  Everyone likes a warm pool.


The newest Thomas great-grandbaby:  Bond.  Bond Milne.

Oooo Bumpa, our patriarch.  Mac's namesake ... sort of.  Bumpa's name is Jess McAllister Thomas.  And he always has the best hair.

I caught some real live sister-love.  Makes me miss Jamie.

 The boys started up a game of "catch-the-football-while-jumping-into-the-pool".  It was all fun and games till some mean lady stuck her arm up mysteriously as the ball was heading toward Uncle Jeremy ... and got hit.  She proceeded to cuss everyone out and claimed she would beat them up.  Jeremy told her to have some class and a few other things.  Guess who threw the football?



Mark was able to come up for a day!



 Yep, it was my darling  Mark who almost killed this poor ornery lady's arm.  Oops.

 Mac entertained masses by playing "Find-the-'black' ", which entails flipping a black hair elastic around the room and trying to find it.  Otherwise our evenings were spent talking, watching movies, painting toenails, snacking, and playing games.

Sporting our reunion t-shirts.  They say "Thomas Proud" and have a sweet cartoon-version of Nana and Bumpa in their youth.  Nana's beehive hair makes the shirt.

 One morning we went to La Jolla.  Beautiful!  Wish we could've had more time there.  I'm definitley going back.

Mac and Macy loved burying each other's feet.

We made dinners for the clan, and usually squished into someone's room to enjoy.  Our last night Bumpa and his brother, Uncle Dan, told stories and that got the siblings laughing for hours.  It was very enjoyable to witness.


Mac called this group of cousins "Guys" and loved it when they came around.



 Our last day was spent at Knott's Berry Farm.  Even Knott's was more magical with the family around.  I've never seen Mac get so very into the rides!  Family just makes everything better.

We absolutely loved our little family vacation, particularly as it was so close to home.  Lots of memories made and stories told.  Love, laughs, and sarcasm everywhere.  We love our Thomas family!

FHE Project

Recently some of the gals that live around here decided to get together and make some family home evening lessons.  The masterminds of it all figured the best way to do it was to get 12 mamas involved and put each of them in charge of one month.  Then we would make 11 copies of the lessons for the month, and then get together and exchange.  By the end we all had a year's worth of FHE nights all planned out and ready to go. 

Genius.

Of course, it ended up being an even more enormous project than it should have been as nearly all of us procrastinated.  The night we exchanged lessons was spent venting and griping and literally applauding each other's efforts.  I myself spent the last couple nights cutting and pasting until 2 a.m. ... felt just like I was in college again.  Or maybe kindergarten, but with a legitimate deadline.

But now that I'm finished, I will say it was most definitely worth it.  Here's the email with our rules in case you are interested in starting up a similar project:

"Ok, it looks like we have our group of 12 people to do the FHE project...so you can now start on it. I've given the month, your topic, and any holidays or events to keep in mind as you make your lessons. Following the assignments I'll go through more specifics of what to do.


January (Book of Mormon Prophets) - Naomi
February (Charity/Service)(Valentines Day) - Katie
March (temples)- Shawna
April (Jesus Christ) (Easter)(General Conference) - Sunni
May (Pres. Monson/Latter Day Prophets)(Mothers Day) - Allie
June (CTR/Honesty and Integrity)(Fathers Day) - Lindy
July (Plan of Happiness/Families/Pioneers) - Shannon
August (Articles of Faith) - Kristin
September (Missionary Work) - Jeanette
October (Prayer) (Halloween)(General Conference) -Luisa
November (Gratitude) (Thanksgiving) - Sarah
December (Jesus Christ) (Christmas) - Karen

Our completion date will be Thursday, June 23rd. That gives all of us about 5 weeks to do it (and Naomi...we can work out a different date for you). On June 23rd we can meet in the day or evening to hand out all our lessons to each other.

Whatever you decide to do with your 4 lessons, here are some guidelines to follow:
1. Keep in mind these lessons will be used for kids from 2 to 6 years old. That is a big age span, but just try to choose things where parents will be able to apply it to their children.
2. You are only coming up with 4 lessons. (You don't have to come up with scripture or dessert). But if your lesson is just simply telling a story, then please come up with an activity that goes with it, like a game or craft. Otherwise, your lesson might be taught through an activity or some kind of presentation. Please type out explanation of your lesson and activity.
3. Using different materials can be fun...like felt, or puppets, popsicle sticks, etc. Make sure you give all supplies needed to do your lessons. The idea is that everyone will be handed an entire year's worth of FHE lessons that are ready to go. For example, I saw an idea at Thanksgiving time to make turkeys with popsicle sticks where you would write what you are grateful for on each stick. So you would need construction paper and popsicle sticks to make it. Make sure you provide those materials for everyone in the group. That way we are each handed a years worth of ready-to-go lessons.
4. Do any necessary assembly and/or coloring. (Of course if part of the activity is for the children to assemble or color, then you don't need to. But if its supposed to be done ahead of time, then please do that for the other 11 people). A tip for coloring: color one picture and make color copies of it...that way you only have to color one.
5. Google FHE lessons to find websites with ideas. A couple I know of are sugardoodle.net and scriptures4kids.com
I hope these guidelines help and don't seem overwhelming. Don't feel like this is some huge project you are taking on. You can keep it very simple and just print off a game handout you see on a website...and that will be great. Or if you feel like being more creative, then go for it. I'll send out some email reminders as time moves on."

Shannon, Luisa ... bless your hearts.

Goodbye, Sister Thomas.

SIGH.  My sister has gone!  She has up and left on an LDS mission.  It's only a year and a half, and she's going to be amazing and change all sorts of lives, and I don't even live by her anyway, but still.

I'm going to miss her.

Her farewell went great.  The Spirit was strong, she didn't mess up any words, (she has a repuation for making up big words) and she even threw in a Lord of the Rings quote.  Dad was so proud.  Everyone loved her, as they always do.  Jamie is open and sweet and instantly loveable.  Don't be fooled though, there's a fire in her that drives her on, something I have always strived for and admired in her.  That girl is beautiful, compassionate, and strong-willed all in the same breath.  How she accomplishes it, I have no idea.

She has been very motivated to pay for her entire mission herself, but she did get a good chunk of money from all sorts of people who love her, and lots of ten and twenty dollar bills from all the elderly folks she has cared for throughout her years as a nurse.

I am so proud of her, and can't wait to hear about all the good she does in the world.  She does it no matter where she goes, mission or no, but she'll do a special kind of good out there.  I just know it.  Love you my lame Jame, don't you forget to write to me!  See you soon. 

And don't worry, we'll keep telling Mac and this new little one all about their Aunt Peenee (Mac's name for her) so they won't forget you.  See you in 18.

A Two-Week Logan Trip

Turns out Mark's extreme frugality (is that a word?) turned out to really benefit us this last trip.  Anticipating flight prices to drop last minute, Mark put off buying a plane ticket, to be used at the end of my Logan trip so he could spend a couple days up north and then drive home with me. 

They went up a hundred dollars. 

So we looked around, and found a much more reasonably-priced ticket for the following week, on Wednesday.  Mark was able to take the time off, so not only did I have a much longer time to spend in Logan, but he did too!

It was wonderful.  Clean air, crisp little jogs with my ultra-athlete siblings, and plenty of food.  Too much even. (I was a little sad at my doctor's appointment today.  SIGH.)  The best part was, I only lifted a finger to be helpful; not at all because I needed to.  Such a good feeling.

Mac showed off like a maniac.  He soaked up all that attention like a sponge.  He takes after me that way.  He flipped around these balls constantly, and it made my family gasp and giggle every time.  He loved it.  Please note Jamie's face in the second picture; it's a pretty good summary of everyone's reactions.

 For Jamie's farewell (which I will give details on in a later post), we had a lot of family come.  It was so very fun!  My best best Aunt Jen came with her six little ones, and I finally got to spend some time with Alyssa ... the miracle baby who underwent all sorts of heart surgery.  She is doing great!  And she has those Johson eyes that are floating around in my bloodstream somewhere .... oh how I hope a child of mine will recieve that blessed trait!

Auntie Jenny sporting the classic baseball-cap-and-hoop-earrings look, which I will always remember her for.  Jamie and I both feel it is super hot and must wear hoops when we were hats.  It's a rule long established if you wanted to be as cool as Aunt Jen.

Mac quickly figured out who was more willing to do what with him, and he spent most of his days running from person to person asking for "Buh-bohs" (bubbles), "Shoot it" (basketball), "Woods" (watching credits of any movie), "Ehmo" (Elmo), "Bans" (bouncing on a bed/ball/anything), and several others that I'm sure I've forgotten.  It's good to be little and have everyone think you are so cool. 

 We really tried to soak up the beautiful green scenery of Logan as much as possible.  We threw a lot of rocks and went on a lot of walks.

Ahhhhh.  My beautiful little valley.

Unfortunately I was too lazy this trip and did not get around to seeing many friends.  I definitely do regret it, as I am now home and am forced into having some energy again.  However we did make a drive out to Salt Lake to see our friends the Eltons and play at Discovery Gateway.  Bless Chelsea's heart for using her free pass on us!  Mac started out ornery, but quickly became enthralled and was quite devastated by the time we had to leave.

 Arguably the best part of Mac's vacationing:  gardening.  Is there anything better than playing in the dirt with Bumpa?

 Then .... DADDY CAME!  Look at this studly man.  Good grief I may have kissed his face right off after not seeing him for a week and a half.  Mmmmhmm he was looking so good. 

He flew in super late Wednesday night, but first thing in the morning we hit the trails to get Mark a little fresh air and wide open spaces.  And I snapped a few classic Crimson Trail pictures.  Pretty sure everyone takes pictures at the same spots on this hike. 

Our very own Incredible Hulk.  Also known as cousin Kyler.  We were super excited to welcome him into my parents' home, where he will be spending the summer.  Ky, we think you are grand!

 Our last night in Logan was spent camping.  We had divine tin foil dinners. (The secret? Use cream of mushroom soup, and make sure Mark does all the cooking.)  We talked, walked, ate all the camp-out classics, and played games.  The best part of the entire night:  no Mac!  He played hard until bed time, and then I drove ten minutes down the road to my parent's house and put him down.  Nana and Bumpa graciously offered to forgo the sleeping-in-the-wild to make sure my little man made it through.  It was a great night for all.

And so, two weeks behind us, we trekked down to Layton where we saw cousin Max get baptized and played with the Gunn clan.  From there we moved along back to congestion, smog, and traffic; our home. 

California does have it's draws though, and I will have to say I think I've decided that I could live about anywhere.  But Logan will always have a huge part of my heart, so Mom and Dad, don't you ever move ... I have to be able to always come back to Logan.

Sweet, Sweet Love

There aren't many things more fun than a wedding.  I eat it up.  Watching two people gaze into each others' eyes with love, hope, excitement and a healthy dose of nerves absolutely makes me giddy. 

Particularly when it's two people I like so very much!

 Ashlee was smokin' hott, and Zack didn't look too bad himself.  The reception was in Mama Gunn's famous yard, and it did not disappoint.  Antique chic seemed to be the theme, and everything was purple, silver, and gold.  I loved it ... wish I would've taken pictures of the decor.

Had to snag a picture of Mac and Zack ... the only two people I've ever heard of that like to line up their toys just so.  Awww.

 And the entire Gunn clan -- minus Adam.  True to Gunn form, he was at a big big baseball game. (A risk every potential Gunn girl must be warned of as she is making wedding plans ... if you are going to get married in the spring/summer, plan on a few key people to be missing.)  Oooooh baseball.

 All the grandbabies.  Don't worry, two more are in the oven to add to the brood.  I'm really hoping Ashlee and Zack will join this baby bandwagon quite soon.

 And my new favorite family picture.  Aren't we precious? 

Congrats Zack and Ashlee.  I'm so very glad to not be the newest Gunn any more!  Don't worry Ashlee, it's an adjustment, but I'll get you through it.